Game News Wasteland 2 Kickstarter Now Live!

[Oesophagus]

The Double Fine project isn't as risky and the die-hard fans aren't as ruthless (in my opinion, of course), but Fargo has to somehow create a good game, balance retro with modern, and appease a lot of grumpy old fans that will be very critical.

Wasteland 2 will be under a microscope. The pressure will be immense.

Nah, even if it turns out to be average, a turn based isometric RPG will be like a tranny running into a bunch of sailors who haven't been ashore for 2 years. The Codex will be too busy ejaculating on the ceiling to complain

 

[Stabwound]

At least if Wasteland 2 goes down in flames, which could very well happen, it's still kicked (hurrrr) open the doors for other developers to follow a similar route. Hopefully MCA and others get their kickstarters going within the next year, before the shit will be hitting the fan with WL2 if it's going to do so. The "playable beta" and all that will be going on by then.

 

[Gregz]

The Bard's Tale remake was a total screw up, and Fargo knows it.

That's a good thing for Wasteland 2 because he learned from his mistakes the hard way.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

What I said about this over @ tO:

I mean, yeah. It doesn't really matter who didn't get along with Fargo, what matters is who did. You think he could have pulled Anderson, Morgan and pretty much the entire original dev team back if he was a complete worthless shit with no redeeming qualities? I mean if dude was as bad as this guy is making him out to sound even a paycheck wouldn't justify it.

So, yeah. Whatever

 

[Dexter]

http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/blog/2012/03/16/what-an-incredible-week-this-has-been/

What an incredible week this has been

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Brian Fargo
What an incredible week this has been. The outpouring of support and faith is nothing like I have ever had before (except maybe from my Mom), and for the first time in years it feels good to be in the games business. I have always loved both making and playing games, but the business side of it has been painful at times. In fact, there were a couple times the frustration with publishers was so high I considered stopping. It just seemed like the era of purity was over. Even when Interplay was a large company there was such a positive vibe with everyone pulling in the same direction with a real passion for their job. I frequently run into the folks I worked with in those days, and this same memory of those times remains with them.

One friend of mine who worked with me there said recently he felt that in the beginning of the industry all the nerds were in charge, but then as the industry grew it changed, and now the guys that picked on the nerds got back on top. I think there was some great truth to that. We all hope this movement is bigger than just Tim Schafer or Brian Fargo as we want to get power back into the developers hands again. And the unbelievable Indie scene shows that there is momentum in that direction. The development community continues to pull itself together to ensure their success. They share tools, they share statistics, they share ideas, and the biggest donators in Kickstarter are always developers. All of this reminds me of the freshness the industry had in the late 80′s through mid 90′s in which creativity was being directed only by the gamers. The gamers will always rule at the end of the day.

You will probably hear me thanking you all a hundred more times, but again, thanks for giving us this opportunity to do what we do best. Make games!

-Brian Fargo

 

[Dexter]

The Bard's Tale remake was a total screw up, and Fargo knows it.

That's a good thing for Wasteland 2 because he learned from his mistakes the hard way.

Who cares if Bard's Tale in 2004 and Hunted in 2011 were shit? (although the first was mildly funny and the second was bearable in CoOp for what it was)
It still proves that he's not some guy like this one with his "Hardcore Tactical Shooter" nobody has ever heard of with a company that hasn't made any games.

It also proves that he can still complete and deliver projects (even if it's some retarded publisher targetgroup thing) and it won't be a "total failure" or "vaporware" like that tard is saying, and that his team can apparently work with licensed tech like Unreal if need be, so it's just up to the creative vision and from what I've heard he's certainly on the right path so far with that one, even if it doesn't turn out to be the best RPG ever conceived at least it'll be a fucking turn-based RPG and not another franchise turned into a Shooter.

 

[Metro]

The Bard's Tale remake was a total screw up, and Fargo knows it.

That's a good thing for Wasteland 2 because he learned from his mistakes the hard way.

Who cares if Bard's Tale in 2004 and Hunted in 2011 were shit? (although the first was mildly funny and the second was bearable in CoOp for what it was)
It still proves that he's not some guy like this one with his "Hardcore Tactical Shooter" nobody has ever heard of with a company that hasn't made any games.

Pledge $10,000 or more

0 Backers • Limited Reward (5 of 5 remaining)
Receive a custom Beretta 92FS 9mm by Creative Director Christian Allen, with laser-engraved aluminum grips with the logo of the game on them. Only if allowed by state and federal law. Alternatively, a customized gas-blowback airsoft 92FS pistol if desired.

 

[Stabwound]

Because I'm sure there's a huge overlap between people who have enough money to spend $10,000 on a kickstarter, people that own and enjoy real life guns, and people that play shooting games.

That guy is a turd that tried to ride the coattales of Tim Schafer with no clue what he was doing and it's biting him in the ass.

 

[Metro]

Well he's gotten $50k out of $200k so far.

 

[Brayko]

Hey but don't worry shihonage, we will have our own shrine/statue! Regardless of the quality of the game or even if we manage to have the game!

 

[serch]

http://www.facebook.com/people/Gus-Smedstad/1158164673

18 facebook friends, the next Cleve?

 

[jewboy]

That was an interesting thread on that other forum. I rarely get to hear developer gossip. I don't think it's fair to characterize the guy as butthurt unless you have specific evidence of it. He may or may not have an axe to grind. We should at least consider the idea that his point of view is basically correct.

The fact is it doesn't really matter. We always knew Fargo was a businessman. He was never a programmer or a designer. He was a suit and that's what he still is. He's clearly also a gifted salesman with the way he has sold this project. The kind of person he was all those years ago may not even matter. People change. And right now he's saying all the right things.

And there is no financial reason for him to want to make a game like this. He could have gotten a lot more money by appealing to the Biodrones and Bethtards instead of us. I don't hear anyone else pitching this kind of game. The fact that he has a track record of not only running Interplay for many years but also finishing some games recently, even if they were shit games, gives me hope that we won't end up with a half finished game. Aside from Vince, I don't see anyone else giving a shit about us. So he deserved this chance. For all we know he'll stuff a suitcase full of cash and retire in the Philippines or something. So let's not get too carried away with all the fapping. Instead a bit of cautious optimism. Or maybe guarded pessimism.

 

[Stabwound]

I agree with the posting of jewboy. I honestly thiink we would have had a banal shit boring Wasteland 2 long ago but Fargo wanted to make a legitimate oldschool RPG game. He absolutely deserves respect for that, if it's true. He could very well be fabricating things, but I am being as positive about this as I can be and am hoping the mock video he posted is true to life. Anyone would have jumped at the opportunity to release or distribute a Fallout 3 style game. I'm taking the optimistic route in thinking that Fargo didn't want to shit on the Wasteland name and ruin it by turning it into a first person shooter.

I don't blame most Codex members for being extremely cynical and pessimistic. I sure am: all we get is clone games under the guise of hardcore CRPGS like WItcher 2 and bullshit Mass Effect. Unless Fargo is pulling a 19th century snake oil scam and trying to sweet talk money out of us I truly believe he's going to deliver the product we want. Why would he do all of this and then completely ruin his reputation after by making it a shit game?

 

[jewboy]

Who gives a shit if the guy is an ass? I don't. That's not the point. The point is it's hearsay. There's just no way to know what happened back then. And in the end it doesn't even matter. As far as piracy goes, WTF?! You really think it would have helped the state of gaming if I had given those Bethfuckers $50 for a game that I couldn't (or wouldn't) even use? That's fucked. As I said I don't pay anyone to take it up the ass and I'm certainly not going to for the fuckers that are partially responsible for the shit that is passed of as RPGs these days. I don't owe them shit. My playing that game didn't cost anyone else a dime. Nor did it effect anyone else. It's almost funny to see a codexian get up on some kind of high moral horse. You don't seem like an angel yourself.

 

[Takeda Kenshi]

I agree with the posting of jewboy. I honestly thiink we would have had a banal shit boring Wasteland 2 long ago but Fargo wanted to make a legitimate oldschool RPG game. He absolutely deserves respect for that, if it's true. He could very well be fabricating things, but I am being as positive about this as I can be and am hoping the mock video he posted is true to life. Anyone would have jumped at the opportunity to release or distribute a Fallout 3 style game. I'm taking the optimistic route in thinking that Fargo didn't want to shit on the Wasteland name and ruin it by turning it into a first person shooter.

I don't blame most Codex members for being extremely cynical and pessimistic. I sure am: all we get is clone games under the guise of hardcore CRPGS like WItcher 2 and bullshit Mass Effect. Unless Fargo is pulling a 19th century snake oil scam and trying to sweet talk money out of us I truly believe he's going to deliver the product we want. Why would he do all of this and then completely ruin his reputation after by making it a shit game?

Precisely. How fucked up would you have to be to try to make a game for this long, take money from a bunch of old school gamers, and then shit down their neck with a terrible game? He would become an instant pariah, and the way he trashed publishers didn't exactly endear him with them either. He would be left with two groups of angry, bitter people and no one else to listen to his ideas. If anything, he may just use this successful kickstarter to rejuvenate his reputation and career with the hopes of getting some big project down the road. Him burning bridges now would likely mean an end to his career, and I'm sure he's infinitely cognizant of this.

 

[Country_Gravy]

Yeah. He has to know that not delivering at least a semi decent game is a career ending move. He obviously has a vision for Wasteland 2 that he wasn't willing to compromise and he seem genuinely stoked to be making this game. All the shit that has come out of inXile over the years has probably just been him going through the motions and not giving too much of a fuck because he hasn't been able to make the games that he wants.

Also, I bet that Interplay going down really bummed him out for quite a few years.

 

[Alex]

Personally, what drove me to donate to the game wasn't so much Fargo as him getting the core team back. As long as the designers get to do what they do best, we will get a good game.

 

[Shannow]

It's weird to see the Codex defending a developer from ill-founded and hyperbolic attacks.

2-6 codexers attack a developer with "ill-founded and hyperbolic" criticism = THE CODEX ATTACKS DEVS!
2-6 codexers defend a developer from ill-founded and hyperbolic attacks. = THE CODEX DEFENDS DEVS!

Anyway, I think some scepticism is healthy. I've said from the begining that I consider donations > 1000$ to be crazy. But in the Smedsted case one can simply point to the games that did get finished, to the games that were turn based and the devs that do work with Fargo (and that Fargo probably could have gotten a FPS Wasteland2 funded by publishers).
I still have faith. But I wouldn't be completely surprized if Fargo runs away with the money the game doesn't turn out to be very good. *shrug*

 

[Aeschylus]

It's weird to see the Codex defending a developer from ill-founded and hyperbolic attacks.

2-6 codexers attack a developer with "ill-founded and hyperbolic" criticism = THE CODEX ATTACKS DEVS!
2-6 codexers defend a developer from ill-founded and hyperbolic attacks. = THE CODEX DEFENDS DEVS!

I think you're taking that particular quote a little more seriously than you should. Lighten up.

 

[commie]

Oh indeed, there's a massive load of hype regarding W2 now, which I doubt it can match but to be something between F1 and F2 in quality I believe it can be and I'll be happy as fuck about..

Still, I think the biggest thing that Codexers are delighted about with this is actually less the game itself than the knowledge that there now IS a viable method for developers to try and fund the game they say they want to make. It's a real put up or shut up form of funding. WE will see which devs and fans are genuine or just posers in their old school passions. It gives hope to all the other projects that were canceled or stillborn because faceless corporate scum crunched numbers and came up with bullshit reasons why there is no market for such games.

Tim Cain was very, very unhappy there, which is why he left early in the development of Fallout 2 to form Trokia. I didn't interact with Tim much, I mostly heard about that from Chris Taylor when we were working on MAX 2

It's true.

Well, things weren't working out. Fargo wanted me to take over. I said no. He said I owed him, for the opportunity he gave me to do the first one. So I started FO2. But things were still bad. People secondguessed what was good for the game, and they wanted in on it, since it looked like a "big thing" now, not some grade B product, which was what FO was viewed as. So I got tired of this whole thing. I felt like I was in a dark hole. So I left. But that was 4 years ago. I have done another game, and designs on 3 other games. I wouldnt mind returning to FO, but not with those people running it.

Actually it doesn't say that he had problems with Fargo. It said that he reluctantly agreed to be in charge of the FO2 team. He mentions 'people'(plural) secondguessing his decisions and trying to take over with their crap to share the glory now that it became 'big'. At the end he says 'not with those people(plural) running it.' Nothing specifically to do with Fargo who put Tim in charge. Everything to do with the other bunch of fuckers that were there with him. Of course, maybe he had problems with Fargo too, but there's nothing about that in that quote.


As for Smedstad, who the fuck was he? Made one good game in M.A.X. and some rehashes of HOMM3. Oh he made HOMM4 (chortle) and Immortal Cities 8 years ago. Butthurt mediocre developer/programmer that has been left behind is butthurt. Maybe he should try and kickstart a M.A.X.3 instead of vomiting on people with the balls to try and make something happen.

 

[Alex_Steel]

Precisely. How fucked up would you have to be to try to make a game for this long, take money from a bunch of old school gamers, and then shit down their neck with a terrible game? He would become an instant pariah, and the way he trashed publishers didn't exactly endear him with them either. He would be left with two groups of angry, bitter people and no one else to listen to his ideas. If anything, he may just use this successful kickstarter to rejuvenate his reputation and career with the hopes of getting some big project down the road. Him burning bridges now would likely mean an end to his career, and I'm sure he's infinitely cognizant of this.

Yeah, and it's not like he's 60 years old or something, ready to retire. He's still got life in front of him, he can still do lots of things!

 

[FUDU]

Well, despite what Gus Smegmastan has to say, I think these guys really want to make the game they have been talking about. They've got their passion for making games back. No more PR/marketing douche bags, with the latest focus group results to deal with. I think they are going to try their damnedest to make the game WE want. Why...............

Because if they don't, there is no second project. They don't get to make games anymore, cause there ain't going to be any publisher money coming their way again, any time soon.

This is the way they want to make their living now. They will make it happen.

To Brian and the rest of the team.......... I have faith. Make us proud.

 

[Bulba]

I just read the rewards again on the Kickstarter page, and it says this for the $150 reward:

"The previous reward plus a limited edition numbered collectible coin and WASTELAND 2 POSTER. Comes with one Collector’s Edition copy, one large boxed copy and a digital copy of Wasteland 2. (Please add $15 for international shipping)"

Shit, if I'm reading this right, this seems to me to be the best deal if I want to share it with a friend, who got the $50 (I got the $100 one). So, if we each purchase our own sets individually, we pay $180 in total (including shipping) without the coin and poster, but if we purchase the $150-tier set, we get what we would have paid for, at a slightly cheaper overall cost, plus we get the poster and coin.

BOOO Go back yo the jewland

 

[commie]

I just read the rewards again on the Kickstarter page, and it says this for the $150 reward:

"The previous reward plus a limited edition numbered collectible coin and WASTELAND 2 POSTER. Comes with one Collector’s Edition copy, one large boxed copy and a digital copy of Wasteland 2. (Please add $15 for international shipping)"

Shit, if I'm reading this right, this seems to me to be the best deal if I want to share it with a friend, who got the $50 (I got the $100 one). So, if we each purchase our own sets individually, we pay $180 in total (including shipping) without the coin and poster, but if we purchase the $150-tier set, we get what we would have paid for, at a slightly cheaper overall cost, plus we get the poster and coin.

BOOO Go back yo the jewland

What's stopping you from changing your order then? It's not jewing when this way they actually LOSE potential funding with this tier as it encourages people to pool their resources as in your case. It also benefits people like me who want a sealed collectors box yet still want to have a manual and map to look at without buying it later at retail when it doesn't do as much good for the project.


EDIT: $1.25M!!!!! Another target reached! Just one more official target to go...$250k in 30+ days...

 

[Havoc]

$1,250,320
Now only $1,5mln!